The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-18
IContiaued from First Page. I


insects make it up by a double virulence
elsewhere, and there are some spots on
the Eastern Andes which are quite unin
habitable. The mosquitoes are masters
of the situation
Elsewhere in the tropics our stingIne
enemies are quite as bad. DIR. Living
stone describes the Anglo mosquitoes a
very ferocious. Possibly he exaggerates
little, for he says their sting Is al
least equal to a nail through the heel OF
ones foot or the toothache.
Captain Stedman, in military exPe
dition in Surinam, says that his soldiers
were forced to sleep with their heads in
holes which they dug IN the ground with
the bayonets For his part he climbed to
the top of the highest trees and swung
his hammock in stheir branches He
tells Us that he could not see his COM
rades for the myriads of mosquitoes, nor
hear Them for the incessant buzz of the
insects.
So much for the tropics But the
frigid regions of the earth are no better
off. 1t is true that their summer Is a
very short one, but the mosquitoes make
the most of their time. As far north a
Arctic voyagers have gone they have
been welcomed by the familiar hum,
and possibly that fortunate individual
| who shall discover the North Pole Will
find a swarm of mosquitoes calmly
seated ON its top, waiting to give him a
warm greeting to their hyperborean
| realm.
Captain Hall found them. in Green
land summer, TO be particularly trouble
some; much worse than he had ever
| known them in the South. In Western
British America they are so fierce and
| abundant in summer as to render these
| regions almost uninhabitable. In the
Sitsa woods they are so ferocIOus a
| scourge that the moose takes to the wa
ter to escape them, and there becomes
an easy prey to the Indians.
On the eastern continent they are quite
| as bad. In Lapland they occur in such
unaccountable numbers that travellers
compare them to fall of snow when
the flakes are at their thickest. The ma
| tives cannot take food, or attempt to
| sleep, unless fumigated almost to suffo-
| cation. They cannot breathe in the
open air without having the mouth
| filed with them, and this, even when
laid on the case-hardened Lapland skin.
is hardly sufficient protection.
| If the torrid and frigid zones are thus
alike afflicted, the tie nperate zones could
| hardly hope to escape. Travellers de
scribe certain localities in terms which
| NAV well make us thank Heaven that
| our lot is cast in happier realms. In the
neighborhood of the Crimea the Russian
| soldiers sleep in sacks to escape mOsqui-
toes, yet this is only partial protection.
Cases are known of soldiers who have
| died of their wounds.
| DR. Clarke relates that the bodies of
| himself and comrades were one entire
wound, in spite of clothes, gloves and
| hand erchiefs. On one su'try night he
| sought shelter in his carriage, of which
| he dared not open tine windows, al
| though nearly suffocated. Yet the mos
quitOes found way in, and came in
| such swarms as to fill his mouth. ears
and nostrils in spite of handkerchiefs
| He lit lamp, but it was quickly extin-
| guished. So many insects swsrmed
around it that their dead bodies actually
choked up the glass chimney and formed
| a conical heap above its top.
| In Northern Asia they are quite as
| bad. The inhabitants of the Ural noun
| tains build fires and hold their heads in
the smoke to escape the mosquito pest.
| They also carry on their backs cases of
| decaying wood and other material. which
is set on fire to smoke out their tormen-
| tors. On the banks of the rivers of
Turkestan, the ANU ard Syr Daria, the
| gnats are dreadful scOurges. Horses when
| ridden have to be completely covered
| with rags and cloths, otherwise they will
| lie down and refuse to move. Cattle.
horses and camels which are fat III
| Spring, become emaciated froia the tor
ment and die in scores. Relief can only
| be gained by driving them to the desert
| away from the streams.
The Cossacks of the Black Sea some
| times suffer severe losses from the same
cause. They have great herds of horses,
| sheep, goats and oxen which are fair
/ prey for the mosquitoes. The swarming
| insects choke up the nostrils, ears and
| mouths of the cattle, which die in con-
| WILSON'S, or from suffocation. In one
small town alone nearly 1000 animals
| Were destroyed in a single month. For
/ tunately it Is only in an occasional sea-
| son that they come in such swarms, or
| neither man nor beast could endure the
| torment.
In parts of our own country the cattle
are similarly afflicted. The shoals of
| the prairie streams are infested with
myriads of mosquitoes and CAD flies.
From the latter the ANIMALS are partly
projected by starlings, which perch on
their backs and devour the flies But
there is no such useful foe of the mos
quito. 1t escapes by its minute size and
remarkable agility. Although a single
hungry mosquito can make such a COM
motion in animated nature, vet ii would
take thousand of them to make a good
mouthful for a hungry bird. Their SIZE
Is entirely out of proportion to the space
they fill in the economy of the animal
kingdom.
The singing insect that disturbs our
pleasant slumbers may well seem to the
excited fancy as large as an elephant
but 1t shrinks into microscopic size when
we attempt to put an end to its useful
| life. There Is something peculiarly ag-
gravating in the calm security with
| which it viii view a hand descending
with force enough to crush million of
its nearest relatives, and the neat skip
with which it escapes at the last mo-
ment, leaving only smarting hand or a
stinging nose behind it. 1t seems, in
deed, to have the marvellous faculty of
being giant in peace and pigmy in
| war. as if it could expand and contract
at will.
The boatmen of the Lower Mississippi
have legend that their largest mosquito.
| called the gallinipper, is larger than a
goose, and that it carries a brick under
its wing to sharpen its bill upon. There
| is a story of daring fellow who made "A
bet that he could stand the mosquitoes
ON his bare back for a certain length of
| time. He accordingly stripped and lay
on his face, to give his tiny enemies their
| fill. One mischievous spectator took a
live coal from the fire and laid it on the
victims back. He WINGED under this
| infection and looked reproachfully up,
with the pathetic remark: Il bar galli-
| nippers."
there is another story which comes To
us from California. which may be more
| credible. In mining camp of this re-
| gion rogue had stolen and hid a bag of
gold. He refused to tell what he had
done with it, though thirty Iashes, well
laid on, were Offered as an nducement.
| Finally they stripped him and tied him
him to a tree, leaving him to the tender
4 off no I'm, ha